Does anyone use the 24mm Elmarit on their M9?

[Logic108]

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I was looking at the Elmarit 24mm images over at Flickr and noticed that there are very few images with this camera/lens combination. The Emarit 24mm is a well-regarded lens and one that I use on my M8. I too regard this lens highly but I wondered how it might perform on an M9. I would appreciate it if any users could perhaps post images or links to their images taken with this combination?

[yanidel]

I was looking at the Elmarit 24mm images over at Flickr and noticed that there are very few images with this camera/lens combination. The Emarit 24mm is a well-regarded lens and one that I use on my M8. I too regard this lens highly but I wondered how it might perform on an M9. I would appreciate it if any users could perhaps post images or links to their images taken with this combination?

I use it on the M9 and it is as good as it was on the M8. Nevertheless, I use it less than I did on the M8 as 24mm is more specialized focal for my style.

 

Here are two shots (click on picture to get a bigger version).

http://blog.yanidel.com/2009/12/28/the-lonely-path/

http://blog.yanidel.com/2009/11/28/a-gipsy-mummy/

[Ecar]

I use it on the M9 and it is as good as it was on the M8. Nevertheless, I use it less than I did on the M8 as 24mm is more specialized focal for my style.

 

Same here: 24mm was almost 35mm FOV on the M8. Now I use my 35mm lenses a lot more often, and I suspect the same applies to many M9 users.

[rennsport]

I picked up a used one before collecting my M9. I've only done a few shots here and there, nothing exciting yet. In general, I'm quite comfortable with the 24mm focal since I've been using my DLux 4 a lot lately. When I have more opportunities, the 24 Elmarit will be my second choice after the 35mm.

[Logic108]

Thanks for the replies so far. Yanidel I like how you use the 24mm Elmarit on the M8. I can understand how you might find it too wide for your style of shooting. The FOV on the M8 seems great but maybe for others who really want wide then it is not wide enough as a speciality lens on the M9?

[vertekijker]

This discussion came up a few months ago, under the title: Re: Switch M8/24mm to M9/28mm - I haven't figured out how to create a link here. If you look under my profile, you'll see it as the fourth thread that I started.

Greetings.

------------

Frans

[yanidel]

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Thanks for the replies so far. Yanidel I like how you use the 24mm Elmarit on the M8. I can understand how you might find it too wide for your style of shooting. The FOV on the M8 seems great but maybe for others who really want wide then it is not wide enough as a speciality lens on the M9?

Depends you shoot want to shoot with it. If it is landscape or architecture, maybe wider makes sense. But for travel/street, I feel this is the widest I'd be able to use because

- you already need to get very close for you subject to fill a good part of the frame.

- a small tilt and the perspectives are completely skewed, this worsens with wider angles.

- you can still approximate the FOV by using the very edges of the M9 viewfinder, therefore can use it without and external finder.

 

What bothers me most about it, is that the 24mm look is clearly different from longer focals I use as there is much more DOF and dynamic perspectives. So when I look at a series, my 24mm pictures always give the impression of a different style, there is less homogeneity if you see what I mean.

[Logic108]

Vertekijker - I found that thread and it was very informative. Thanks.

Yanidel - I read one thread where you listed all of the reasons not to buy an M9. I think your use of the 24mm Elmarit on the M8 is great and this can't be replicated on the M9 (same thought here as Vertekijker). I wonder what you feel you have gained or lost with the switch to M9 from the M8? You mentioned that you print to A3. Looking through your blog I think the 24mm Elmarit images on the M8 have a really unique look. Different from the 35mm Summilux on the M9. It makes me feel like sticking with my M8 and Elmarit because I too use this lens for street shooting.

[yanidel]

Vertekijker - I found that thread and it was very informative. Thanks.

Yanidel - I read one thread where you listed all of the reasons not to buy an M9. I think your use of the 24mm Elmarit on the M8 is great and this can't be replicated on the M9 (same thought here as Vertekijker). I wonder what you feel you have gained or lost with the switch to M9 from the M8? You mentioned that you print to A3. Looking through your blog I think the 24mm Elmarit images on the M8 have a really unique look. Different from the 35mm Summilux on the M9. It makes me feel like sticking with my M8 and Elmarit because I too use this lens for street shooting.

After two months of use with the M9, I can tell you that your question is the fundamental one for somebody looking at upgrading from M8 to M9 and using 35mm as standard focal.

The 24mm Elmarit is very different from the 35mm Summilux Asph. Colors, pop, perspective, speed, DOF. It also has a more modern look I would say. Neverthless, you could be a bit misled when comparing my pictures of the 35mm Lux on the M9 and 24mm Elmarit on the M8 as I shoot mostly wide open so you are really comparing a F1.4 lens with F2.8 pictures. The DOF is very different therefore it contributes to the different look. If you take look at my last blog entry (35mm Lux at F5.6) Street Photography in Paris ? Blog Archive ? Esmeralda and Quasimodo : Act I you'll see that stopped down, the 35mm Lux resembles a lot more to the 24mm Elmarit rendering.

 

But to answer your question by going M9 + 35mm Lux, you gain :

- 3 stops at least of speed. The Elmarit is too slow in low light, that was my issue with it. The M9 is better in high ISO's by one stop.

- the 35mm framelines on the M9 are much better than the 24mm on the M8. More space around them to compose and anticipate, this is very important to me.

- less viewfinder blocage by the lens and a smaller lens + hood combo.

- more selective focus ability due to F1.4

 

and you lose :

- I am not still quite sure about it, but I always have the feeling the M8 + 24mm files are slightly sharper than the M9+35mm Lux. My M8 is in Solms, I'll do a direct comparison when it returns.

- the 24mm Elmarit is a better build lens than the Lux IMO.

- large DOF, if it is important to you. The M9 really requires much more precise focusing due to thinner DOF for a given framing.

 

As for the rendering, it depends on personal taste. The day I tried the 35mm Lux wide open on the M9, I placed my order ... regardless of the many valid reasons I had to stay with a M8

[innerimager]

Timely thread for me. My 24/2.8 was a favorite on the M8. I was using the 28 cron on the M9 much more and the 24 was gathering dust. I was about to sell it when I decided to concentrate on using it the past few days. As above, I found that the entire VF gives an acceptably accurate frame for moderate distances, actually very accurate. So my assumption that I'd have to always use an external finder was wrong, and this helps a lot. Then there's the IQ. The 24/2.8 has a brilliant quality/signature that separates it from my other lenses in a subtle but effective manner. For instance, I would choose the 24 in landscape and "object" images more, and the 28 cron for people and of course for subject isolation at f2. Finally, I have a chrome version 24 elmarit which is especially nice is this lens. So...I'm keeping it and it will get used, best...Peter

[Logic108]

This thread has been very useful for me. Innerimager thank you for your input - very interesting. Yanidel - just one last question. When your M8 comes back will you be shooting with two cameras? So using both your M9 and M8 (let's say using the Hexagon 60mm on the M8 and the 35 lux on the M9)? Also why did you send the M8 back - what was the problem? Thanks.

[yanidel]

This thread has been very useful for me. Innerimager thank you for your input - very interesting. Yanidel - just one last question. When your M8 comes back will you be shooting with two cameras? So using both your M9 and M8 (let's say using the Hexagon 60mm on the M8 and the 35 lux on the M9)? Also why did you send the M8 back - what was the problem? Thanks.

My M8 suffered a series of failures just when my M9 arrived (jealousy?), that is a hot pixel with the resulting streaks, the shutter curtain dismantled and the shutter would not recock in cold weather ... 400 euros of repairs (and CLA) as it was out of warranty. This potential risk on older M8's must obviously be taken into account in the decision to upgrade or not.

When it returns, my girlfriend is taking over it so I will only use the M9. And anyways, I don't want to carry two cameras or get confused by the different framelines and slight ergonomic changes.

[wparsonsgisnet]

This is my go-to lens -- when there is enuf light. Its rendering (thanks Sean for helping us concentrate on this aspect of image-making) is brilliant.

 

I use the 35 'lux-a and this lens most of the time on the M8 and the M9.

[lars_bergquist]

24mm has always been my favourite wide angle lens (35mm doesn't really qualify as wide -- its a 'short standard lens'). But as I'm not made out of money, I got myself a Zeiss 25mm Biogon instead. It's a great lens, and no, 2.8 is NOT too slow. I wanted this field of view with my M8 too, and got it with a Zeiss 18mm Distagon! That's 1:4, and I did use it indoors. Now with the M9 its f.o.v is 90 degrees horizontal again, and I am still using it indoors occasionally.

 

Oliver Rüther has a very interesting article on available light work in the current issue of LFI (1/2010, January). He makes the point that in low light, you don't want to make the night into day. It is really a low key image you want. So you should expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves. His pictures prove it. And he used a M8.2! And not one of his pictures was taken with an ISO higher than 640, even in a wine cellar. And all were made offhand, by the way.

 

The old man from the Age of Kodachrome II and 1:3.5

[shootinglulu]

This has been a very helpful thread for me...

Yanidel, please could you say how the colours are different between the 35 lux and 24 elmarit?..I keep almost buying the elmarit and then reconsidering because of its speed.

Thanks

Lucy

[yanidel]

24mm has always been my favourite wide angle lens (35mm doesn't really qualify as wide -- its a 'short standard lens'). But as I'm not made out of money, I got myself a Zeiss 25mm Biogon instead. It's a great lens, and no, 2.8 is NOT too slow. I wanted this field of view with my M8 too, and got it with a Zeiss 18mm Distagon! That's 1:4, and I did use it indoors. Now with the M9 its f.o.v is 90 degrees horizontal again, and I am still using it indoors occasionally.

 

Oliver Rüther has a very interesting article on available light work in the current issue of LFI (1/2010, January). He makes the point that in low light, you don't want to make the night into day. It is really a low key image you want. So you should expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves. His pictures prove it. And he used a M8.2! And not one of his pictures was taken with an ISO higher than 640, even in a wine cellar. And all were made offhand, by the way.

 

The old man from the Age of Kodachrome II and 1:3.5

I read it too, most of his shots were taken at 1.4 with static subjects. F2.8 with moving objects would not have worked.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Lucy, I don't think I conveyed my enthusiasm for the 24mm lens.

 

This is a brilliant lens. On Sean Reid's site I was able to evaluate it against all other bayonet-mount lenses at the time I purchased my M8. The images clearly showed me the superiority of the lens.

 

Based on the ReidReviews info I bot this lens and was delighted. I got after-the-fact support from Puts who says it is the single most important lens for a Leica owner to have.

[yanidel]

This has been a very helpful thread for me...

Yanidel, please could you say how the colours are different between the 35 lux and 24 elmarit?..I keep almost buying the elmarit and then reconsidering because of its speed.

Thanks

Lucy

Hi Lucy, I find the colors of the Elmarit warmer, more saturated, especially the yellows. I often end up desaturing the yellow and orange colors in Lightroom to have a more homogeneous rendering with my other lenses.

[shootinglulu]

Thankyou very much Yanidel!

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[Guest ccmsosse]

I was looking at the Elmarit 24mm images over at Flickr and noticed that there are very few images with this camera/lens combination. The Emarit 24mm is a well-regarded lens and one that I use on my M8. I too regard this lens highly but I wondered how it might perform on an M9. I would appreciate it if any users could perhaps post images or links to their images taken with this combination?

 

Hi there - although I am a beginner to the rangefinder concept and Leica, I have a few shots with the 24 and 35

Michael Sossenheimer | Salt Lake City

they are in the Salt Lake City folder and the Pollution folder (first two) Michael Sossenheimer | Pollution

 

I don't know whether that helps - I got mine used at Dale in Florida - six bit coded.

I love the fact that the lens is wide but am still experimenting with the 24/35/50 differences.

 

Hope that helps some